Article by
Barbados Today

Published on
December 2, 2016

Students of the Barbados Community College (BCC) Fine Arts programme staged a brief protest today to highlight filthy and unhealthy conditions under which they were forced to operate.

Twenty-one students marched from the Fine Arts building to the principal’s office demanding that something be done to end the rodent infestation that has plagued their segment of the college since the beginning of the semester.

Students of the Fine Arts division during today’s protest.

Monitored by teaching staff and the head of the fine arts division Dr Allison Thompson, the students issued a letter to the Office of Principal Dr Ian Austin.

Speaking on behalf of the theatre arts students, Melissa Hunte told Barbados TODAY they had had enough of rodents and flies making the performance hall their home.

“There is no one assigned to us to adequately maintain the space and as theatre students, you have to be in the floor and touch a lot of stuff in the area. We can’t do that safely when we have the hazard of mice,” the first year student said.

Hunte said there was little to no garbage bins in the areas, with dead rodents, an abundance of flies and maggot-invested chickens a regular and ugly sight.

“We have taken on the responsibility of cleaning the performance hall without any supplies. . . that takes time out of our classes and then it forces us sometimes to not have class because of the rats,” she said.

Principal Dr Ian Austin told Barbados TODAY he was unaware of the situation, therefore, he could not comment.

Kudos to these students for speaking out about issues that the administration have been aware of for quite some time.
This is only the tip of the BCC iceberg. Improper storage of hazardous chemicals and 5 years of back pay owed to 165 part time tutors are other outstanding issues. Sadly it’s easier to say “no comment” then to invest the time and money to achieve real progress.

Kudos to these students for speaking out about issues that the administration have been aware of for quite some time.
This is only the tip of the BCC iceberg. Improper storage of hazardous chemicals and 5 years of back pay owed to 165 part time tutors are other outstanding issues. Sadly it’s easier to say “no comment” then to invest the time and money to achieve real progress.